Let's Get Rich
by PrettyAverageWhiteShark
Summary: AU - Delphine is a successful scientist who encounters a cheerful, homeless ukulele player one night. Possible Cophine *one-shot for now unless you guys would like to see more!*


**A/N: The lyrics don't belong to me. They're from Ingrid Michaelson's _You and I_. If you guys like this, let me know! It's just a one-shot right now, but it could definitely develop if I know you folks want to see more. **

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><p>Delphine shouldered the glass door open, stepping outside into the cool night air. The sky was darkening, all of the street lights beginning to flicker on. Music drifted through the air. The strumming sound of a...Delphine had to think for a moment to recall the name. Ukulele? Such a strange word. A woman's voice accompanied the tune of the instrument, too far away for Delphine to make out the words. She saw the source of the music, a black-haired woman sitting against one of the buildings farther down the street. The tiny guitar-shaped instrument was perched in her lap and a dog lay by her side. Delphine smiled a bit; the music added a nice touch to the atmosphere of the street.<p>

She pulled a pack of cigarettes from her coat pocket, placing one between her lips and lighting it. Taking a deep drag, she let her head fall back as she exhaled the smoke, watching it swirl away on a slight breeze. She checked her watch; it had been nearly ten hours since she'd been outside of the lab.

Delphine sighed, running her fingers through her hair. The research was fascinating but exhausting and, true to scientific form, extremely time consuming. It was nearly 9pm and she wasn't even finished with today's culture extraction. To survive the late hours, she'd fallen into a routine of taking a break every evening to get a coffee just before the drinks stand outside her building closed for the night.

She dug around in her pocket for her wallet, making her way over to the wheeled trolley.

"_Bon soir_, Donald," she said, smiling around her cigarette.

The grizzled man behind the counter gave her a grin. "Hey, Delly. Same as usual?"

She nodded. "Please."

Delphine found it a little silly that she visited this stand so often that she'd become the person who not only had a nickname, but whose preferred drink was known by the owner as "the usual." She wasn't complaining though; the coffee was a decent quality for the price, and it kept her awake into the later hours of the night. She leaned against the trolley as Donald began preparing her drink, her wandering gaze falling on the woman with the ukelele.

Now that she was closer, Delphine could see that the woman wore her long hair in dreadlocks. Black spectacles reflected the light of the street lamps as she swayed her head in time to her own music, her eyes rapturously closed. Her voice was lovely, raspy and light, full of a happiness that seemed out of place for someone who looked to be a close companion of misfortune.

Delphine realized she had been watching the woman for longer than was socially acceptable when Donald startled her by nudging her elbow to hand her the coffee. She thanked him, paying for it and leaving a generous tip in his small plastic tip cup. She pulled a few extra dollar bills from her wallet as she wandered a little closer to the homeless woman, stopping a few yards short to listen to the music. Delphine snubbed out her cigarette with her heel and took a slow sip of her coffee, bobbing ever so slightly to the rhythm of the tune.

"_Let's get rich and build a house on a mountain_

_Makin' everybody look like ants_

_From way up there,_

_You and I,_

_You and I."_

The woman's voice trailed off with the final strum of her instrument, reverberating a little in the air. It was a few moments before she seemed to come back to herself, opening her eyes and blinking as she reached over she rub her dog's ears.

"That was lovely," Delphine said, taking a few steps closer. "You're very talented."

The woman looked up, her eyebrows and the corners of her mouth lifting in a surprised smile. "Thank you so much."

She waved one of her hands to amend herself, "I mean, it wasn't even my song, but I'm glad you liked it."

"I did," Delphine smiled. "Very much."

She remembered the dollar bills in her hand and looked down at them, "Oh, ah...I wanted to give you this. For the wonderful song."

Now both of the woman's hands were in action, waving emphatically, "Oh, no, no, I'm not singing for money. I mean, totally appreciated, but I just sing for the joy of the music, you know?"

Delphine faltered, stammering a little. This woman seemed so sincere, she felt it would almost be rude to insist that she took the money.

"What you can do," the dreadlocked woman said with a disarming smile, "is tell me what you're doing in Minnesota with such a gorgeous French accent."

Delphine smiled and glanced away for a moment, taken aback by the compliment. "Oh, I'm a scientist. I came here for school. I fully intended to go back to France after graduating, but I got offered this incredible job right away and I just couldn't refuse."

"A scientist, huh? What kind of scientist?"

"I work in immunology."

The woman nodded, her smile broadening, "Immunology, nice. I had a few friends in that program when I was still in college. I prefer evo devo myself, but hey, to each her own."

Delphine's mouth opened as she mouthed the words ever so slightly, stalling for a moment as her brain worked on converting "evo devo" into a scientific term she was familiar with. It was only a moment before her face lit up with understanding: "Evolutionary development!"

The other woman laughed, "Yeah, that's the one."

Delphine was suddenly very curious about this pretty, dreadlocked homeless woman.

"Did you finish your degree in evo devo?"

The woman shook her head, her dreadlocks sliding across her shoulders, "Nah. Ran out of money. So I figured if I couldn't live that particular dream, I'd live another one."

Delphine tilted her head, nonplussed, and the woman opened her arms, gesturing to the area around her in general. "This. This is it. Travelling cross-country, living on my own, getting by from day to day. It was something I always wanted to do as a kid and I saw the chance so I took it. I mean, don't get me wrong, I miss the hell out of school, but this has been a total trip."

She reached down to rub her dog's fur, "Just me and Scotty here, roaming the states, making friends and sharing music." She looked up, giving Delphine another canined smile. "It's the life, man. If you ever, like, get tired of your well-paying, probably fascinating career as a scientist, I highly recommend it."

Delphine chuckled, "I will keep it in mind."

Her phone started buzzing and she pulled it out of her pocket. The alarm icon was blinking on her screen. "Oh, _merde_. I'm so sorry, I have to go. I have to check the petri dishes, it's a time sensitive thing."

The woman nodded, waving her hand. "I get it. Go ahead. Check the dishes. Win science."

"It was good to meet you," Delphine said, beginning to walk away, suddenly distraught at the sudden end to their conversation. At the last moment she turned back, pushing away the hair that had fallen in her face. "I'm Delphine, by the way."

The homeless woman smiled, lifting her hand. "Cosima."

Delphine nodded, smiling. "_Enchantee,_ Cosima." With that she hurried off, strangely feeling more exhilarated and awake than she had in several months. Something told her it had nothing to do with the coffee.

Cosima watched the tall woman go, her fingers flexing slightly in a tiny wave. "_Enchantee_," she murmured, the corner of her mouth pulling up involuntarily. Her eyes remained fixed for a while on the glass doors where Delphine had disappeared. Finally she shook her head, the grin still in place as she picked up her ukelele again. She started to strum a nonsensical tune, one without words.

"Well, Scott," she said contemplatively. "I know I said we'd be out of here by morning, but maybe we should stick around. Just to see the sights, you know?" She looked down at her mutt, who turned his head to look up at her. His tail brushed in a slow wag against the concrete.

"Okay then. It's settled. We'll stay for a few more days," she said, nodding. "But only because you asked nicely."

The sound of the ukelele filled the night air. Cosima closed her eyes and hummed with the melody, thinking of the way French woman's accent had curved so beautifully around the English language and, more specifically, around Cosima's name.

She scoffed quietly at herself. "You're a hopeless case, Niehaus."

But the smile stayed on her lips until well after she had fallen asleep on the park bench that night.


End file.
